I Care dot Net
by AnjinForever
Summary: An anime fan's take on a more modern, but still highly in-character, Care Bears story. The Care Bears discover their roots, meet new friends, and overcome modern problems with the power of love... and a little technology.
1. Prologue

Extract from the Records of Bright Heart Raccoon

With the turning of the years, time was not kind to the Care Bear family.

It's not my style to start off on such a depressing note, and Grumpy would probably say I'm stealing his lines, but there's definitely a reason for me to begin this way.

We Care Bears never changed, even when the times got tough. Some of us lost our energy as the people on Earth stopped respecting the attributes that gave us our names and our powers. Many of us fell asleep, sealed toward the day when light would again shine on the Earth.

True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse, our Leaders and Parents, slept with those that had faded, feeding them their pure energy to keep them from disappearing for good.

Still too depressing. I'm sorry.

Think of it like a flower. A flower is still a flower and has the potential to be beautiful and fragrant to everyone that goes near it. But if there's too much rain and not enough sun the flower will wilt. It's not giving up nor will it stop being a flower, but external forces are forcing it to bend down.

That was the situation of the Care Bears during that time. We were still the Care Bears, and we would do what we could... but the world hid itself in shadows that we couldn't dispel and refused our help. We never gave up. Giving up isn't what Care Bears do.

So when the time came that the sun broke through the clouds, we were still there, still ready to save the world. Just like when the rains go away the flower can once again lift up its head and bring joy to everyone around it. That was the wonderful process that started on the day we met the Bears with No Names...


	2. Episode 1 Part 1

The Care Bears and the Bears with No Names

"The Care Bears don't need two pessimists..." Grumpy Bear's voice echoed in the cold Sleep Hall. It was the only place in Care-A-Lot that wasn't warm and cheerful. The Bears who were still awake had tried to make it as cozy as possible for their poor brothers and sisters who were sleeping there, but it was still a place without much warmth.

In the middle of the hall, looking back and forth at the many sleeping forms, sealed in crystal, that were lining either wall, was Tenderheart Bear. He was the target of Grumpy's comment. At the sound of Grumpy's voice, the young, temporary leader of the Care Bears, turned and smiled softly at Grumpy.

"Oh, no, I was just making sure everyone was tucked in properly and sleeping peacefully," he said, his voice still filled with the tender warmth that brought peace to any listener. Except Grumpy.

"Have -you- slept lately?" Grumpy said, frowning.

"No," Tenderheart murmured, not capable of lying, even if he had wanted to. "I never seem to have the time. Most of us don't..." he looked at Grumpy, whom he knew was also up late worrying just about every night.

"You should see Bedtime, then," Grumpy said, looking away. It was his nature to grumble and nitpick, but even he was losing the will to do it as much, anymore. He really wanted to comfort his dear friend, but it was hard to go against his nature.

"Last time I woke him up..." Tenderheart said, looking slightly pained "He said he was having a wonderful dream, where everything was like it used to be. Now that he sleeps so much I'm worried... I don't have the heart to wake him from his dreams."

"..." Grumpy again looked away from his friend, trying to find words that were too foreign to him.

"Well I've got something to get you gloomy gusses back in the pink!" Brave Heart Lion's rumbling voice bounced off the walls loudly. Both the Bears turned to see not only Brave Heart, but also Bright Heart Raccoon and Swift Heart Rabbit entering. The Care Cousins, who usually lived in the Forest of Feelings nearby, had all moved into the Care-a-Lot castle with the Bears after their numbers had started shrinking. Now, in total, there were only 4 Bears and 4 Cousins still awake and about in Care-a-Lot.

Just 8.

"Brave Heart!" Tenderheart greeted, giving the leader of the Cousins a wide grin. "Is there work?"

"You got it in one, brother my bear! The Earth needs us!" Brave Heart proclaimed, throwing out his chest. "Best thing for the glooms, work! Turn some frowns upside down!"

"Well, what are we waiting for! You can debrief us on the way!" Tenderheart exclaimed, dashing over to join the group of Cousins. Grumpy sighed, grumbling half-heartedly about how troublesome it was, though he was secretly glad something had come along to take Tenderheart's mind off of the sleeping forms of their family.

* * *

"So, what's the situation?" Tenderheart asked, as they zoomed over the sleeping Earth in a cloud-car. Grumpy, Brave Heart and Swift Heart were in the car with him. Wish Bear and Bright Heart were floating at their flanks in one-person cloud bikes.

"It's in Japan. We have a young thief doing some breaking and entering. Normally the police should handle it but..." Brave Heart said, looking down at the Earth. As he paused he looked at the others with a suddenly serious face "... it's not so much the -what- as the -why-."

"His heart is crying..." Tenderheart said, and the others nodded.

They were wordless, each pulling up memories from other such missions to look back on. Back then they had had many companions and skills to choose from. Now that they were so few it was necessary for each one to think of the best way for him or her to serve in the mission.

"Japan... huh?" Bright Heart mused silently to himself, looking down at the island nation from the clouds as they descended. It wasn't a place they had gone too many times. Immorality and depression were rampant in the big cities there, though they had often visited the smaller villages in the hills and forests where the humble people still lived. It had been a while, though. The sparkling city of Tokyo lay beneath them like a gem-encrusted spider-web. But they were headed farther north, toward Hokkaido.

"Here we are. Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido. Going down!" Tenderheart said, signaling to Wish Bear and Bright Heart to also descend. The three vehicles slowly floated in a spiraling descent toward the city.

* * *

To the south, standing on one of Tokyo Tower's observation bays, a young boy stood up from where he had been looking at the night sky through the tourist binoculars installed for people to look around at the city. He had seen something that night that no one in Japan had seen in a long, long time. Something he had only heard net rumors of.

'Have you heard of the creatures that ride around on clouds and grant wishes?'...

* * *

Ken Mizuki wasn't even out of grade school and he was already a proficient thief. He had started in 4th grade because he was tired of being different. His dad had put him into a rich, snobby private school to try to make himself look good and rich to all his friends, even though the Mizuki family was hardly scraping by.

"What matters is that we -appear- to be rich, my boy," his father always said, as he wasted money that should have gone toward food on gambling and nice clothes and jewelry for his mother.

But nothing for Ken.

And so he was forced to go to a super rich school where everyone had nice bikes and cell phones and games and... and everything! Everyone made fun of him for his used clothes, his cheap watch, his haircut, his clothes. He was the butt of all their jokes about how the poor class lived. Everyone knew his parents were just trying to compensate by showing off money they didn't have.

Well all that had changed. Now Ken had all the money he could spend. Most of the really rich people whose kids went to his school were involved in one or two shady deals, so even if their houses got robbed they would hardly ever call in the police. Sometimes they would get guards or security systems but they were never expecting the small child Ken Mizuki to be the culprit. They thought they were dealing with a pro. Well, by this point they pretty much were, Ken thought to himself.

And so, as another super rich family had gone on vacation, Ken had once more paid their house a visit and relieved them of as much jewelry and cash as he could get his hands on. He carried it all in his black leather school backpack, which was now slung over his shoulder, stuffed with spoil.

"Ken! Please stop!" a sudden voice split the silent night, and Ken whirled around, looking into the shadows with wide eyes. He didn't think it was a guard, since they obviously wouldn't know his name. Then who...?

Out of the shadows stepped 6 figures. They were squat, like midget humans, but they looked like walking stuffed animals. Three were bears; brownish, blue and purple. The others were a golden-brown lion with a large mane, a light blue rabbit and a purple-ish raccoon. He could make out their colors clearly as they stepped into a pool of light given off by the exterior lights on the mansion he had just robbed. It was the foremost, the brown bear, who had spoken.

"Who... what they heck are you!" Ken asked, his voice a very loud hiss as he didn't want to yell, under the circumstances.

"We're the Care Bears, and we're here to help you stop doing things that hurt yourself and others. My name is Tenderheart Bear. You don't have to be afraid of us, we just want to help!" Tenderheart said, his voice full of love and tenderness that Ken hadn't heard since he was a toddler, back before money had been a concern for his parents. It made him step back, it was such a foreign thing to him.

"You... you're lying! You're evil spirits and you want some of the jewels! There's no such thing as a 'Care Bear'. Spirits exist because of the feelings people have, and no one in this whole city 'cares' about anything anymore, unless it's money! That's what you're after, isn't it?" Ken's voice was dangerous. It was clear that he was very high strung, and that he hadn't been sleeping much. His illegal activities had had an effect on him, even if he wouldn't admit it. The Care Bears and Cousins ached to take away the pain in his heart.

"All those jewels won't buy you happiness or friends," Grumpy pointed out. Looking on the negative side of things was sometimes helpful. He hoped to point out how worthless these acts of thievery were. "Since you've started stealing has anyone been nicer to you? Has anyone treated you with respect?"

"Sh... shut up!" Ken said, taking another step back. The truth of Grumpy's words had pierced him.

"People look up to a cool dude that's also a nice guy!" Brave Heart put in, raising his chin a little and giving Ken the example of said 'cool dude' "If you learn to help others and show them that you're a good person you'll make all kinds of friends. Maybe those rich kids won't flock to you, but who needs them anyway? You want friends that like your heart, not the clothes you wear or how much money you have!"

The feeling was good. The Care Bears could tell that they were slowly breaking down Ken's defenses. Wish Bear took her turn and stepped forward to stand beside Tenderheart.

"..." she opened her mouth to start, but she was interrupted.

"Won't you all just SHUT UP!!" Ken suddenly yelled, and with a movement of his right hand he drew a long knife out of his pocket, opened it, and lunged at Wish Bear, blade first.

"Look out!!" a voice called out. It wasn't from one of the Care Bears. Ken didn't notice the voice, but just as he was about to stab into the Care Bears, who were frozen with shock at his desperate action, a deep green figure appeared from the shadows and dragged Wish Bear out of harm's way. "Silver!" the green figure then called.

At his call a silver-furred figure appeared and stood in front of Ken, blocking him from the Care Bears. Both the silver and deep green figure were bears who looked just like the Care Bears, though their faces looked a bit older and less open. Plus they were both wearing clothes. The green bear had on a leather aviator's jacket with a fluffy cream collar like one would see on a pilot from the 30s or 40s. He also had a pair of aviator's goggles around his neck with heart-shaped lenses. The silver bear was wearing a white cloth jacket that looked like it came from a traditional karate gi. He was also wearing a white headband.

"Out of my way!" Ken snarled, stabbing at the silver bear. He then gave a gasp of surprise as the silver bear fluidly swept his foot up and kicked Ken's wrist hard enough for him to drop the weapon. He then smoothly tripped Ken, who went down onto his knees. The silver bear then stepped back, again placing himself firmly between Ken and the others.

"Thank you..." Wish Bear murmured to the green bear who had pulled her away from danger, he smiled at her then turned back to Ken, stepping forward. Then he did something the other bears couldn't understand. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, rubbed at them a little with one paw, then opened them again and stared straight at Ken.

"Listen, Ken," he said, calling Ken's attention to him. "Kirie won't like it no matter what kind of gift you buy her with this stolen money. She's not rejecting your presents because they're not good enough, she's rejecting them because she knows they're bought with dirty money,"

Ken's face went pale, and it seemed as if all the energy went out of him. He opened his mouth to say something but no sound came out. The green bear walked over to him and stood right in front of him, next to the silver bear.

"Not just Kirie, there were other kids like you as well, weren't there? Back in 4th Grade? 2 Years ago you were all friends and it didn't matter what the other kids thought, right? It didn't matter that you were poor. You were friends because you were all in the same boat. But when you got a crush on Kirie you thought she wouldn't like a poor boy since she was one of the rich ones. Even though she'd been so kind to you all along you didn't trust her love because all the rich kids treated you so bad. You thought one day she'd do that too, right? That's why you started stealing, isn't it?" the green bear continued, his eyes gentle as he revealed Ken's history in detail. "You wanted to be a rich kid too, so Kirie would accept you. The other kids still made fun of you, but what was important was Kirie. But when she started acting cold towards you, after you started stealing, you thought she was beginning to dislike the poor you. You had it wrong. She was turning away from the thief you were becoming!"

Ken sank down even more into himself and, slowly he started to cry. Dropping his bag of stolen goods, he scrubbed both hands across his face as he tried to keep his tears from falling.

"It's not too late. Kirie has a kind heart, and she doesn't like the rich kids any more than you do! If you stop this right now and go and just talk to her about everything she'll understand and she'll still be your friend. But if you keep going this way you'll lose Kirie's respect forever and it'll be hard for you to ever find another person who truly loves you for what you are..." the green bear's words seemed to drag Ken down even more into despair. However, it wasn't a cruel despair, but instead the sorrow of a repentant heart. The boy had finally recognized his own mistakes.

"I'm... sniff~ … I'm sorry. Kirie... I'm sorry..." Ken sobbed, still rubbing at his face and trying to stop the tears. The green bear stepped over by him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we know you're sorry. You just need to stop. Put the stuff back that you took tonight, and go and see Kirie right away and tell her you made a mistake and you want things to be like they were before. Alright?" the green bear's words were soothing, and Ken nodded slowly.

"~Sniff~... Thank you... I didn't want to be a thief but... I thought she wouldn't like me anymore, and a lot of the rich kids were giving her love letters and I even heard a rumor that she liked one of the really rich guys and... ~sniff~ I should have known she would never like a guy like that... I'm sorry..." Ken sniffled.

"Well, at least you know what's right now. Now go and do what you have to!" the green bear said, giving him an encouraging smile. Ken nodded, stood up, and started back toward the house to put back all the things he had stolen. He paused halfway, turned around, and bowed to the green bear and the others, then straightened and waved, giving them a shy smile.

The Care Bears and the other two bears waved back, all smiling.

* * *

"That was amazing! You knew exactly what was happening in his life just by looking at him!" Tenderheart exclaimed, after the whole thing was over. They had all retired to a secluded park to sit down and talk with the two mysterious bears that had come to their rescue. The green bear was very open and friendly and sat with them quite naturally, but the silver bear stood a little apart, not quite avoiding their company, but looking more like he liked to be at least a little secluded.

"Well, that's our brother's specialty," came a new voice, and the Care Bears looked up to see two more figure coming to join them. The one that had spoken was another bear, light blue almost like Swift Heart, who was wearing a pink hooded sweater with the hood down. For some reason the way it looked on her reminded the Care Bears and Cousins of a monk's robe. Beside her was a black wolf, who was wearing a red cape.

All the Care Bears and Cousins stood to greet the newcomers, and after they had all settled down the green bear explained:

"We're from around here... we mostly work at night, helping the kids around here to keep out of trouble and helping them work out their problems."

"That sounds like what we do too!" Tenderheart exclaimed. "We're the Care Bears, and the Care Cousins. We help everyone care more for each other and learn about the good feelings we can all have! My name is Tenderheart, and the others are Wish Bear, Grumpy Bear, Brave Heart Lion, Swift Heart Rabbit and Bright Heart Raccoon."

The various Care Bears and Cousins nodded or bowed as their names were called.

"The Care Bears? Hmm... I think I've heard rumors of you guys around in the big cities sometimes, though Japan is a pretty hard place to work, even for us and we've lived here all our lives! As for our names um... hehe..." the green bear gave a nervous laugh "Well, we don't quite have what you would call names. Before they could name us our Big Brother and Big Sister left on a journey, so we've been waiting to receive names all this time. Mostly we just call each other by our colors or what we look like. Everyone calls me Forest, or big bro since I'm the oldest. River is the one in the sweater and Twilight is the wolf. Silver is the one who protects us, though I feel a little silly being protected by my own little brother," Forest smiled cheerfully.

"Are you all a family?" Tenderheart asked, looking between the four nameless ones. They all nodded.

"We're all born from the same place, so we're all family. There used to be so many of us! But a long time ago a dangerous person attacked our home and our leaders had to escape with the children. Only 5 of us were left behind to make sure no one could get into the Valley of Rainbows, and since then there's only been 1 more little sister born to us. Other than that it's just been us four that you see here and one other sister who is at home watching over the youngest and our home," Forest said, and River nodded in agreement. After a moment, Forest tilted his head and looked at Tenderheart closely. "Actually, now that I look at you closely... I wonder if just maybe... Could it be that you kids know Big Sister Bear and Big Brother Horse?"

The Care Bears and Cousins looked shocked. The story he told sounded so much like their own. Tenderheart answered slowly "You don't mean... True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse? They took us when we were just babies to flee from Darkheart..."

"True Heart and Noble Heart... that must be them! It sounds just like them!" Forest exclaimed, suddenly jumping forward and hugging Tenderheart tightly "I knew it! I knew I recognized you all! You probably don't remember me but I've been thinking about you all every day since you were taken away! I'm your big brother! You're the lost cubs of the Valley of Rainbows! The lost Rainbow Children! You've finally come back to us! River! I told you they'd come back some day! I knew we'd see Big Brother and Big Sister again if we waited and protected the Valley for long enough! Oh today is the happiest day of my life!"

River and Twilight the wolf also came forward and hugged the Bears and Cousins with many exclamations of love and happiness. Only Silver stood apart, but his eyes shone with tears and there was a soft smile on his face.

After he had hugged all the others, Forest came back to Tenderheart and wrapped one arm around him again. He was slightly taller than Tenderheart, so he looked down into Tenderheart's eyes with a big smile on his face and stroked his little brother's head fondly. Somehow, the whole feeling was nostalgic to Tenderheart, and his face matched Forest's smile.

"Now, let's take you guys to the Valley of Rainbows. It's time for you to see the place where you were born, and meet the rest of your family. Shall we go?"

* * *

Anjin's Notes: Woot! Already getting into the thick of things right from the get-go. I wanted this story to be paced fast enough to get a lot of the story told quickly to get people hooked into it and to show that I actually know what I'm doing with the characters. Though obviously the story has a darker overall tone than the original series, I tried to retain the Care Bears themselves as shining beacons of hope despite their circumstances.

I also tried to keep the chapters 'bite-sized' so people don't get too long; didn't read syndrome. You can think of the first four or five chapters as a sort of 'two-hour pilot episode' for the series, after which I intend for each chapter to be a self-contained story if possible.

I think the main reason I have so few Bears and Cousins in the beginning is so everyone can get to know each of them better. I want their separate personalities to be distinct before I start inundating you with tons of Bears and Cousins to keep track of. For old-time lovers of the series it might not be hard, but for new folks looking to catch a little hope from this series without knowing the source too well I want to take it slow.

Please post some comments on what you think and if this story is giving you a little hope or making you feel warm and fuzzy. Suggestions always welcome with open arms. The next chapter will be up here in a day or so, I've actually already got it and the next one ready to go but I want to give folks time to digest things first n.n Plus I want to delay a little so I can prepare more chapters so there's not a lull right after I put up a bunch.

Good night and lots of love!


	3. Episode 1 Part 2

The Care Bears and the Valley of Rainbows

"We'll wait for you at the entrance to the Valley while you go and get the rest of the Care Bears," Forest told Tenderheart, giving him one last hug and then waving as the Bears and Cousins returned to their cloud vehicles.

"I can't wait... Youngest is going to be so happy to meet all her new big brothers and sisters!" River said, still waving as they disappeared into the clouds. She turned at the sound of an engine and the crunch of gravel as a dark car pulled up. The four of them walked over as a dark window was rolled down and a red-haired adult with dark glasses waved to them with a soft smile.

"Need a lift?" he asked, already popping the locks for them to get in. Forest got into the front and the others climbed into the back together.

"Thanks, Jin," Forest said, grinning widely up at the man. The man was probably in his mid-twenties and had long red hair. His eyes were hidden by dark glasses and he was dressed in a formal white and blue priest outfit like those seen at shrines all over Japan. Despite the obscurity of his dark glasses, his face still had a friendly, approachable look to it.

"Something good happen, Forest?" Jin asked. "You're grinning fit to burst."

"Oh, you'll see," Forest said, giving a knowing look over his shoulder to the others in the back seat. "We'll be having some visitors in the Valley tonight."

"Is that... so..." Jin said, softly. He looked out the window for a long, silent moment before shaking his head and getting the car into gear. "Glad to hear it. It's been such a long time since I've seen... er... since we've had visitors, right?"

"Yep," Forest agreed, winking at him.

* * *

Jin parked the car in an old shed right at the mouth of the valley, which was hidden deep in the woods on a mountainside in the Hokkaido wild country. The road leading up to the area was very old and the only one who had driven their for the last 10 years was Jin, but his wheel ruts were well carved into the old dirt road by now.

"Look, they're already coming!" Forest said, pointing up at the clouds where he could just make out two white cloud cars coming down. His eye sight was much better than the others, and it would take them a few minutes longer to finally make them out.

"Well, you wait here for them. Silver and I will be at the Temple," Jin said, staring off toward the valley with Silver at his side.

"Oh, aren't you going to greet them?" River asked.

"Hmm... it's been a long day for them. Let's just give them one surprise at a time..." Jin said, grinning lopsidedly. He and Silver vanished into the shadows at the mouth of the valley long before the cloud cars had finally set down.

From the cloud cars descended the 8 remaining Care Bears and Cousins. Tenderheart, Grumpy and Wish Bear descended first, followed by the lethargic Bedtime Bear, who looked like he had been awoken just a few moments before. Brave Heart Lion, Bright Heart, Swift Heart Rabbit and Gentle Heart Lamb descended from the other.

There was a round of new introductions and hugs as the nameless bears were presented to Bedtime and Gentle Heart and vice versa. There were happy, warm smiles all around as the nameless ones led their lost brothers and sisters into the valley.

Now, the Care Bears had seen a lot of magnificent and special places in their lives. The Forest of Feelings, Care-a-Lot and the Kingdom of Caring where they had grown up... Not to mention places like Wonderland where they had visited on various trips. However, if it wasn't the most beautiful spot they had ever been to, the Valley of Rainbows was certainly near the top of the list.

"W... Wow..." Grumpy murmured, completely overcome by the sight. Enough so that he forgot to grumble about the misty spray of water in the air or the rushing sound of water.

The Valley was actually more of a tunnel, since the mountain rock on both sides sloped up and curved over until it almost met over their heads. From the overhanging rocks there was a myriad of huge waterfalls crashing down into a river that cut through the middle of the valley, running into the underground near the entrance to the Valley. The paths on both sides of the river passed in and out of curtains of falling water and every inch of the place sparkled and shined with a kind of rainbow light. Every waterfall must have been giving off ten rainbows at least, and even the dust on the ground, moistened by crystal drops and dew, seemed to glow.

"Where does all this water come from?" Bright Heart asked, after they had stared around in awe for at least 5 minutes.

"The Rainbow Glacier, up on the mountain. The whole Glacier is infused with holy light so that every single little trickle that comes off of it has its own glow and rainbow. Even on the darkest, stormiest nights nothing changes in this place. This is the Valley of Eternal Rainbows," River explained, her voice reverent as she spoke.

They continued on amidst the falling sheets of shining water until they arrived at the end of the tunnel-like first part of the Valley. Tenderheart looked a little startled as he felt grass underfoot after the soft rock and dust of the passage. The valley opened out at that point into a wide basin with a huge shrine apparently made of glittering crystal. The crystal of the walls of the building shone like the rainbows and waterfalls all around them.

"Your first home. The place you were born... The Rainbow Temple!" Forest said, catching Tenderhearts gaze and gesturing with a sweeping paw at the large, beautiful building.

"Rainbow... Temple..." Tenderheart repeated, looking up at the tall spire of the building in awe.

_Small, green-furred paws supported his body. He was wrapped in a blanket, sleepy, afraid. Never had a feeling such as this entered his rainbow-colored world. True Heart took him into her arms... she didn't have her tummy symbol yet. She looked worried, and she was looking at the bear who had held him._

_"This is the last of the cubs, big sis..." the green bear said. His green paw lingered on Tenderheart's head, then slowly dropped away. The green bear was looking up at True Heart with tears in his eyes._

_"We'll... we'll be alright, little brother. We'll lead Darkheart away from here and make sure he never reaches the Valley. You guys are strong, you'll definitely be alright until we get back," True Heart said, her voice sounding much younger than Tenderheart was used to. Her voice was also shaking, and he felt drops of moisture falling onto his head. Tears._

_"Yeah... we'll be alright," the green bear scrubbed a hand across his eyes and looked up, meeting True Heart's gaze again._

_"We've got to hurry!" Noble Heart's voice, also younger, came to them over the wind-blown grass of the valley. He was also carrying a cub in his arms, and his eyes were shining with tears. True Heart stared at the green bear for a moment longer, then with a flinch she turned away and ran after Noble Heart. Tenderheart, held up against her shoulder, could watch behind them as they ran toward the bay at the end of the Valley opposite the mouth. There was a ship waiting for them in that bay. Over True Heart's shoulder he could see five figures standing in front of the Rainbow Temple. The foremost was the green bear, whose eyes shone with a brave light..._

"Tenderheart..." Brave Heart Lion's voice broke in through Tenderheart's memories, and they fled away like startled birds. He looked up in surprise to see that everyone was staring at him. He had frozen on the spot while looking up at the Rainbow Temple. Touching one cheek he felt dampness, and he realized that his vision was blurred with unshed tears.

"Hey hey, let's see a smile instead, huh?" Forest said, wrapping his arms around Tenderheart's shoulders and rubbing his head again. "You're finally home! Show me a grin!"

Tenderheart sniffled, wiped his eyes, and gave Forest a large smile. He remembered those same green-furred arms being wrapped around him in a time that seemed like a fairy tale, so long ago it was. He would never forget it again. This place really had been... really was... their home.

"Ah, here comes the remnant to say 'hi'!" Forest said, gesturing as a few figures came out of the large pearly entrance to the Temple.

A tall man with red hair was holding a small white bear in his arms. Next to him was Silver, who gave a small wave of greeting, and next to Silver was a red fox. Both the fox and the man were dressed in the traditional outfits of Japanese priests, though the man wore the male version (white robe with wide blue pants) and the fox wore the female version (white robe with wide red pants).

When they had gotten near the Care Bears the man stopped and set the white bear down. She wasn't a toddler, maybe more like a child of 9 or 10 by human reckoning, coming up to only chest or neck height on the Care Bears.

"C'mon, say hello. These are your big brothers and sisters," the man said. Something in the sound of his voice made Bright Heart suddenly look pensive and confused.

The small white bear, dressed in a long t-shirt that hung down all the way to her knees, looked up at the Care Bears for a moment with wide eyes. Then a soft, angelic smile spread on her face and she went to each one and one-by-one clasped one of their paws in both her small, gentle ones. She met the gaze of each of them and said: "Hello...." in a voice both sweet and low.

Tenderheart found himself blushing a little when it was his turn to clasp the paws of the little angelic bear. He saw that the other Care Bears and Cousins were having a similar reaction. The little bear, he realized, was probably the cutest creature any of them had ever before seen, even in their dreams. He had the urge to suddenly hug her, but he didn't want to startle her so he set it aside.

When she finished greeting all the newcomers the little bear jumped into a big hug for Forest, who caught her and held her as he went to introduce the two others that the Care Bears hadn't met yet.

"This fox is Russet, our local visionary and spiritual guardian of the Rainbow Temple. Between her, Silver and this guy here..." he gestured at the man who was fiddling with his dark glasses "... the Rainbow Crystal is kept safe from any and all that would take its power."

"The Rainbow Crystal?" Bright Heart asked, sounding very interested. He had never heard of such a gem, not in all his studies.

"Well, we'll get to that, but first things first. You'll probably want to meet this guy here..." Forest said, again gesturing to the man. There was a conspiratorial grin on his face. He knew what a big surprise it would be for them.

The man gave Forest a small smile, then took off his dark glasses. His eyes were deep and blue, but didn't look quite human. There was a kind of intensity and ancient feeling from them, as if he had lived for a lot longer than his physical age. Also, there was just a slight hint of sorrow in his eyes, like a bad memory that would never go away.

Tenderheart felt something stir within him, looking at the man's face. It was so familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Slowly recognition dawned on him. His eyes opened wide first with confusion, then understanding, then open surprise.

"Why you... you're...!" he began, but couldn't finish. The other Care Bears, coming to the same realizations, all gave small gasps. Bright Heart nodded. He had finally recognized that voice.

"Darkheart..." the man said, smiling softly and painfully.

There was a dead silence as the Care Bears looked uncertainly from the man who they had last seen as a young boy at a summer camp. Then it had taken all the people in the world caring at the same time to turn him from bad to good but... To see him in this magical valley, standing so naturally among their older brothers and sisters was more than slightly odd.

"His heart is pure," Forest explained, simply, looking up at 'Darkheart' with a smile.

"After I was cured by you bears and those kids I took to wandering, doing good like you had taught. Each time I helped someone it awakened a bright and happy feeling in my heart that I had never felt before..." the repentant Darkheart explained, sitting down and looking deep in thought as he remembered his earlier wanderings. "I made lots of friends, but I never felt at home in any place because... well... I knew I wasn't really a human like everyone else was. I've been alive for a lot longer than my body seems to think I have. Eventually, as my body aged over the years, I had to leave off helping out kids in need since it kinda creeped their parents out once I was in my late teens. After that I just followed my heart where it would take me... Eventually I crossed over the ocean and found myself called back here, a place that was buried somewhere in my heart. Once I had hated this place and promised to destroy it and all its habitants to cleanse the world of goodness, but now it was a shining beacon for me in my journey..." At this point he trailed off and glanced at Forest, who picked up the story.

"Well," Forest said "When he showed up here I knew right away who he had been but... I also could see who he was. My sight is never wrong about these things, so I knew he had repented completely. We were still wary at first, just because we'd never had a human among us, but he and Silver became good friends and they helped each other tend to the Rainbow Crystal. Plus lil' sis took a real liking to him, so we couldn't really argue with that, now could we? Anyway, he had a bunch of names he threw around whenever someone asked but he wanted us to pick a real name for him. Not that we're any good for that, considering our own nameless state but... We decided to call him 'Jin'."

"Jin?" Bright Heart said, tilting his head a little. "That's the word for 'human' or 'person' in Japanese, isn't it?"

"That's right. The best name I could have asked for. The thing I've wanted to be for such a long time. I started life as a force of evil, nothing more than a manifestation of the darkness that dwells in human hearts, but now I'm 'Jin', a person, a human who can feel and love and... well do whatever I think is right. I'm no longer just a... 'thing' or 'power'... I have a soul and free will to choose how I'll act and what I'll do. Therefore, I'm happy to be called Jin."

"Jin... Jin... That is a good name," Tenderheart smiled, and nodded.

"Right? So I've been living here ever since helping Silver tend to the Rainbow Crystal," Jin said, summing it up. The Care Bears looked among each other and exchanged smiles. It warmed their hearts to know that someone they had helped so long ago was still doing this well.

"What exactly is the 'Rainbow Crystal'?" Bright Heart asked, curious as always.

"Ah, right, you still haven't seen it yet!" Forest said, snapping one finger. "Follow me!"

* * *

Forest led them into the large, crystalline Temple. The huge doors glittered and seemed to ring with a harmonious tone as they opened magically for the approaching bears. Immediately inside was a huge chamber dominated by the largest gemstone any of the bears had seen.

It was a perfect sphere hanging in the air in the middle of the large room. All around it was a kind of white, misty haze of water particles. These droplets caught the inner gleam of the crystal and reflected rainbow light into every corner of the large chamber.

"The Rainbow Crystal," Forest said, after they had all watched it in awed silence for several moments. "It collects the good feelings from all over the world and, after its harvested enough it glows brilliant white and a new Rainbow Child is born. All of us are Rainbow Children, see? We're distillations of the good feelings of people and creatures all over the planet. This is our origin, the place we were all born. I was there when each and every one of you was born. Whenever it happened we'd all throw a huge party... Big Sis and Big Brother would always... they'd always cook up something special and..." Forest tried to keep going but he choked a little and had to reach up to wipe away a tear. Tenderheart laid a hand on his shoulder and Forest looked at him and smiled.

"True Heart is only sleeping for now. She'll wake up soon and then you'll be able to see her again..." Tenderheart said, gently. Forest nodded. He then turned back to the Rainbow Crystal and was about to begin talking again when suddenly the room around them went cold and the breath of all the bears came out in white puffs of steam.

"Wh... what?" Bright Heart gasped, looking around for some explanation in the drop in temperature.

"It's FREEZING!" Grumpy complained, shivering.

"The Crystal has gone cold!" the fox named Russet said, rushing toward the Crystal to look up at it. Her eyes scanned over it for a moment then she looked back over her shoulder at everyone, her foxy face serious. "Something wicked this way comes."

Everyone rushed outside to see what was the matter. As soon as they exited the white bear (who still didn't have a workable name to the Carebears as they'd only heard her called 'lil sis' and 'Youngest') launched herself into a glomp on Forest whom she clung to, burying her face in fear. Jin and Silver were standing on the path to the Temple, eyes serious.

"What's going on?" Forest asked, coming up beside Jin and Silver. He stopped with a gasp as he saw what they were looking at.

Ken Mizuki was standing in the middle of the path leading into the basin of the Valley of Rainbows, knife held loosely in one hand. His eyes looked strange, like fish-eyes... empty.

"K-... Ken!?" Grumpy exclaimed, completely confused.

"Not this again..." River said, her voice full of despair. The Care Bears all looked at her.

"What? What is it?" Tenderheart asked, looking between Ken and River. It was Forest that answered, though.

"This isn't the first time this has happened to a kid we've helped. Someone's doing this to them. Whoever it is got Ken as well..." Forest said, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"What? What did they do?" Bright Heart asked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He had never seen someone have that kind of look and still be conscious and moving.

"Whoever it was put a needle... a needle of pure evil..." Forest said, pointing to the left side of his own chest. "... right in his heart."

* * *

Anjin's Notes: Well. Still in the 'pilot episode'. Sorry I keep ending at random places but I want the chapters to be well paced without one being terribly longer than the others. At this length it's easy for me to put out these chapters pretty fast, so I like keeping it short like this. Longer chapters slow me down and generally make it so I don't want to work on a story.

You'll notice that the emotions I portray in this series are deeper and more poignant than those normally present in the Care Bears show. Tenderheart and the others are growing up, and experiencing new things and new emotions. They'll need to be able to understand these emotions in order to put up with modern problems. Kids these days are not as emotionally simple as they were back in the old days when the Care Bears used to help them. Forest and the others, as the older siblings, will have to help their younger siblings to understand newer and deeper emotions than they're used to.

I know everyone's desperate to know what the new bears will be named... just a little longer! I don't plan to keep you in the dark for too long.

Oh! And Darkheart! Obviously I couldn't leave Darkheart out. I base most of my Care Bears knowledge off of the 2nd movie (A New Generation). I thought that movie was a cut above anything before or after it in the Care Bears franchise. It amazed me and still does. So, if you're wondering, the 'canon' I base my stories off of comes from Care Bears: A New Generation, as well as some of the other films like Care Bears in Wonderland.

Please review if you read it! I really value the opinion of other Care Bears fans in how I'm handling the characters etc.!


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